Israel is the world's happiest country.

So writes a journalist named Spengler in a recent edition of the "Asia Times".

This is based on a comparison between the fertility rate of 35 industrial countries and their suicide rate. Israel is at the top of the list with the highest fertility rate and virtually the lowest suicide rate.

Just to give an idea of how much Israelis value life more than others the chart in this article reports that the US has a suicide rate of 11 per 100,000 people and Russia 34.3 while Israel's rate is a mere 6.2.

As regards fertility Israel's rate is the highest, twice as much as that of Russia and most European countries.

The author's conclusion is that Israel has a love of life and is therefore the world's happiest country.